Data geniuses have figured out what the ultimate U.S. road trip looks like

Optimal round-trip route across 48 US states/50 stops, according to the data scientist who figured out most optimal way to spot Waldo in the book series, is 9.33 days of raw driving. Realistically, this still needs to factor in sleep and enjoyment time.

For comparison, I drove one-way from Philadelphia, PA to Portland, OR via the “big dipper” route in two weeks and felt I needed significantly more time to explore in each city. My trip had 3.5 days of raw driving and stops thru 14 states.

If you’d like to review more stats from this trip, visit the link within the big dipper text, or simply go to www.ksrt.tumblr.com.